Last Friday, I was in Brighton for the Brighton SEO conference. It was quite a change for me. I’ve been going to technical conferences for about twenty years or so, but the ones I go to tend to be rather grass-roots affairs like YAPC or Opentech. Even big conferences like FOSDEM have a very grass-roots… Continue reading Brighton SEO
Mail Rail Map
If you read yesterday’s post about my Mail Rail trip, you’ll remember that my slight quibble with the experience was that there weren’t any maps showing the route that the tour takes. Well, I’ve found one. And I think it explains why they don’t shout about the route. I was Googling for any maps of… Continue reading Mail Rail Map
Riding the Mail Rail
I rode the Mail Rail yesterday. It was very exciting. More about that in a minute. Before that, I went to the Postal Museum. I’ve often thought that the UK needed a museum about the Post Office. And the new (well, newish – it’s been open a couple of months) Postal Museum is a really… Continue reading Riding the Mail Rail
Previously on Game of Thrones
In just a few weeks, HBO will start to broadcast the seventh series of Game of Thrones. The show has a large cast, so I thought it would be useful to take a look at who’s still alive, where they are and what they are doing. To start, I’ve looked at all of the forty-two… Continue reading Previously on Game of Thrones
A Gig Without Phones
On Wednesday, I went to a gig without phones for the first time since… well, since before everyone had a camera on their phone. I wasn’t planning to go to a gig on Wednesday but on Tuesday afternoon I received an email from Songkick inviting me to a secret gig by Haim. I accepted the… Continue reading A Gig Without Phones
Top of the Pops and Me
In 2011, the BBC started repeating old episodes of Top of the Pops. Initially, they were showing one episode a week, as close as possible to thirty-five years after the original broadcast (starting with shows from 1976). More recently, they’ve been showing two episodes a week, so we’re currently in early 1983. I’ve been watching… Continue reading Top of the Pops and Me
2016 in Gigs
Time for my traditional round-up of the gigs I saw in the previous year. According to Songkick, I saw 39 gigs in 2016. That’s the lowest number since 2012 (when I saw 36 – but had the excuse that my leg was in plaster for six weeks and I didn’t get out much). Let’s start with… Continue reading 2016 in Gigs
Listening to Leonard
Over the last week, I’ve re-listened to all of Leonard Cohen’s albums in chronological order. And, most importantly, I’ve rated them. Recent Songs (1979) Sorry, but this is the one that I really didn’t get. In “Humbled in Love” it contains one of my favourite Leonard Cohen songs, but the rest of the collection really… Continue reading Listening to Leonard
Brexit
I was awake soon after 5:30 yesterday morning. As I got to my computer, the EU referendum results weren’t confirmed, but it was looking certain that the country had voted (narrowly, but decisively) to leave the European Union. My thoughts during the day are nicely summed up by my tweets and retweets. My initial reaction… Continue reading Brexit
Ten Years?
It’s been some considerable time since I wrote anything about Nadine Dorries. I still keep an eye on what she’s up to, but most of the time it’s just the same old nonsense and it’s not worth writing about. But I was interested to read her recent blog post explaining why she had given up… Continue reading Ten Years?